Adventure Philosopy

When we were packing up for the boat, I did a lot of careful thinking about reading material. I stocked some favorites to share with the kids, Narnia, Tolkien, E.B. White and some classics for Bob and me, all adventures. This included a lot of maritime-themed books. I had been slowly making my way through Captains Courageous; “slowly” not because it is boring but because I was reading Anna the Narnia series at the same time and so by the time she let me go to bed I would pretty rapidly go to sleep. I finally got to the end of Captain’s Courageous (And Narnia too) and read the scene with the Lost Fishermen’s Memorial Day where they publically read the names of all the dead that year. We were just finishing our time in Nazaré, Portugal, a famous fishing village about 75 miles north of Lisbon.  We visited the local museum and spent some time in the Town exploring the history and culture of this fishing community as I was reading of another fishing community, located just 25 miles from my childhood home; the similarities once again show us that we are not all that different from our neighbors across the sea.

The harbor where Midwatch was safely tucked was constructed in the fifties but before then, the

I want a pair of oxen!

fisherman, just hauled their boats up on the impressively large beach using multiple teams of oxen. This exit from the sea was rife with danger and the construction of the harbor was an important event for this town. Multiple reminders around the town kept the danger of the sea fresh in our minds including the number of women wearing traditional dress, in black.

We ended up in Nazaré, we had no plans to stop in Portugal, because we were hit by an enormous wave. Midwatch fell off the wave doing a little damage and letting in a good bit of seawater at the same time. It took us 11 days to dry out, make repairs and mentally recover from this adventure. From there we took a short hop down the coast to make sure everything was working properly before we made the big hop, our longest passage as a family, down to the Canary Islands.

Ever since rounding Cape Finisterre, we have philosophized that no part of this trip is easy and we are truly in an adventure. We arrived at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria more than three weeks ago and have spent a good deal of time recovering from the previous month’s journey to get here. As we prepare to embark on the big Atlantic crossing we are hoping for a slow and uneventful crossing full of a lot of nothing.

This talk of ‘adventure’ started after we rewatched the first Hobbit movie and were reminded of Bilbo’s definition of ‘Adventure’ as “nasty, messy things that make you late for dinner.”  We are about to take off on our big family voyage, back to the western side of the Atlantic.  We are all a little scared, excited and anxious to have this big step past us but know that once we are on the western side of the Atlantic, the return home will seem much more real.

We have been joined by friend and fellow cruiser Mark Gordon of Minnesota for the crossing. The Gordons have a charter business on Lake Superior (link to Amicus web page) and we are thrilled to have an experienced, third hand, and adventure seeker, on board to share in the next step of our journey. We met Mark and his family in the Bahamas last winter and had a great time with them. This was their second trip to the Bahamas and at least the kids were able to reconnect with them, while Bob and I prepped Midwatch for the first crossing, as they were passing through the Erie Canal in the spring on their long journey back to the west end of Lake Superior for their summer season.

We plan on taking off on the 1^st and expect the trip to take about three weeks. We will again try and update the blog on a regular basis which is far better than we do sitting here in comfort! We have lots of pictures and stories to share and my guess is I will be working on these slowly over the coming weeks. Here is to adventure!...but I am really hoping for a smooth and uneventful crossing.

More Interesting Geology

Wow! Mark Gordon of Two Harbors, Minnesota arrived yesterday to assist us in our passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. We are very excited to have him here! He brought news of earthquakes and volcanic activity on nearby El Hiero Island. Check it out!  Volcano Report

Merry Christmas from Midwatch!

The Sand Dunes of Mas Palomas!

Snorkeling

By Finn

This is for Grampa. I was snorkeling and next time I come to you I will show you how I can snorkel. I put the snorkel in my mouth and I put my mask on myself. I got my floaties on and I snorkeled. A couple times my snorkel went all the way under water and got filled with water. We went again today and we did everything we did yesterday and we played ball in the pool. I snorkeled well and I could breathe under water well.

 

Canary Islands Geology

By Anna

Yesterday (Dec. 16) we went to the mountains in a car. First I looked up some geology things on the computer. Then we got in the car and started up and up. We heard that on hot days, the people go in caves to stay cool. We saw many, many caves.  The caves were made by bubbles in the magma, some were made by rocks falling out. The caves are all different sizes.

 

 

 

Tenerife is the largest island in the Canary Archipelago. The oldest island started 15 million years ago and island building stopped nine million years ago. There was a time of volcano activity 4 ½ to 3 ½ million years ago.  The last eruption on Gran Canaria (where we are), was 2,000 years  ago, at a place called Bandama . The Teide Volcano on Tennerife is the highest mountain in Spain, and the third tallest volcano on Earth, measured from the bottom of the ocean.

 

 We were going by a town called Puerto de Mogan, and we stopped and walked around for a little

while and I got a new schoolbag for next year.  On the way up we stopped to have lunch. There were lots of sheep running around. They all looked really funny all running going, “BAAAAAA, BAAAAAA .”  We were going up, up, up until Finn and I fell asleep then we went in a cloud and dad fell asleep too. We could only see a little ways away. When we got out of the cloud, we were at the bottom of the mountain. We stopped at a coffee shop and I had Sprite and chocolate cake. Mmmmm. I asked in Spanish for a napkin and the waiter gave me 10 napkins. The coffee place is at a famous place to wind surf because of the famous Canary wind acceleration zone.

The sand dunes

Then we drove to a GIGANTIC sandy beach with giant sand dunes. Finn and I liked to slide down and climb up them. The sand dunes were made by wind, lots of wind; and sand blown from the Sahara Desert!

We saw people kite surfing on the beach and we were going up, down, up, down. It was a lot of fun.

A guy named George took us on this trip. His boat is across the dock from us. He is very nice!

 

George, Finn and me

The sand was like melted chocolate

 

Arrived in Gran Canaria!

One year to the date from our departure down the ICW we have arrived in Grand Canaria, Canary Islands, officially a part of Spain. We are eating and resting and plan on catching up on blog posts over the next few days.

Bob, after fighting his big fish for nearly two hours. We believe his arms are about an inch longer today but the cramped hands make the apparent difference zero. Thank God he is wearing his lifejacket ;)
 

Sunrise over volcano on Fuerte Ventura

Midwatch 12-4-13 The One That Got Away

For those of you that are tired of hearing about how hard the sailing is over

here on the other side of the Atlantic...this one's for you.

As we rounded Lanzarote the wind eased as predicted and the sun brought the

temps up into the 70's.  The kids spent all day running around the deck which is a welcome change for them.

Kim and I are in recovery mode.  I ate 4 fried eggs with cheese on top and 3

pieces of bacon with juice and coffee for lunch and Kim slept much of the

afternoon.

In the early afternoon the wind died almost completely and it is forecast to

remain virtually flat calm for days so on went the engine.  Finn and Mom took a nap while Anna and Dad fussed around in the cockpit.  We were visited by a pod of Spotted Dolphins. 

Earlier in the day Finn had declared that it was time to put the big fishing rods back into action.  As the day wore on I thought "Boy, Finn is right,it's looking real fishy around here."  I selected a nice new cedar plug and tied it on to my heavy jigging rod rigged with lots of braided line.  It was probably two hours before dark when I finally got it set.  I jigged it back and forth for a few minutes hoping for a hit and then set it in the holder.  We had dinner and I was down in the galley doing dishes and Kim was in the cockpit drying when all of a sudden she started hollering "Fish-on!"  It was nearly dark when I made the dash for the rod.  I had set the drag on the light side and when I moved the rod around to the stern and tightened the drag I knew I was into a good one.  Fortunately with no wind Kim could put the boat into neutral and we slowed right down to a crawl.  The first run was a screamer.  I don't know how many yards of line are on that spool but I ended up cranking the drag down as much as I could stand and he never slowed down then just when I thought I better holler for a knife he stopped. We fought up and down for almost two miles as recorded on the GPS.  The water

here is 10,000 feet deep.  He came up a few times but we never saw him.  The

line parted at the swivel at the two hour mark.  I was almost glad.  My arms are not going to work tomorrow.  He was by far the heaviest fish I have ever

battled.  We are guessing giant tuna and I think he will be a little sore

tomorrow as well.

It was a surreal environment with the flat sea, lights of Lanzarote in the

distance and stars and moon.

Incidentally, when I pulled the line in it was covered in jelly fish guts which stung my hands and chest.

Anna drew a picture of me battling the fish with sweat raining down all around me.

Thinking Anna's next book shall be "The Old Man and the Sea".

Finn has selected a giant double hooked Sluggo as tomorrows bait of choice.

We still have 80 miles of motoring to reach Las Palmas on Gran Canaria so we

will definitely have some fishing time in the morning.

Have a good night,

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn

Midwatch 12-3-13 One Year Anniversary

All is well enough.

We had a rough past 24 hrs.  Stored the computer and gps in the oven to protect

from lightning and decided we didn't want to risk any communications.

Kind of like sailing in a pinball machine.

This morning we broke through the heavy weather and were greeted by the outline

of Lanzarote "Land Ho!"

Mom and Dad are weak and shaky but the kids are up in the cockpit enjoying the

warmth and blue water and views.  Currently passing lots of ships and Finn is in

to it.  Bob Dylan on the stereo and things are looking up.

365 days ago today we left Morehead City, North Carolina to begin this journey. 

Not one step has been easy but no one can say we haven't come far.

Headed for Gran Canaria and should be there roughly 24 hours from now.

Time:  11:00 AM UTC

29 Degrees 32.770 N

13 Degrees 46.366 W

Course 223 Degrees True

Speed 5 kts

Full main and storm jib

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn

Midwatch 12-2-13

Made excellent progress since our last communication.

Current Position:

18:42 UTC (6:45pm)

32 Degrees 23.429 N

10 Degrees 59.341 W

speed 5.8 kts

Course 190 Degrees True

Wind 13-15 kts out of east

We have sailed under full Genoa and storm trysail since yesterday morning. 

Winds have fluctuated between 14 and 24 kts and we have a good current pushing us along.  Sea conditions: Big Blue Waves but nothing dangerous. Everyone is just now starting to feel better...even Mom who was questioning everything this morning.  The temperature is cool but we now have two nights in the bank without needing any supplemental heat.

The current thinking is that we will stay on our present course as best we can till morning and then b-line it for Gran Canaria and just clear Lanzarote's

northern most coast.  We anticipate a period of heavier winds that we will need to traverse then it looks to die completely and we will likely be motoring the last day or so.  Hoping we are docked in 2.5- 3 days.

Today was dish cleaning day for me so I was grumpy.  I have also been cooking

for everyone.  The kids seem happy enough about it.  Kim thinks all her ailments are due to my greasy cooking.  I better not delve any deeper into these matters or it is going to get ugly.

Finn declared that he had enough of life down below decks and demanded we put

his harness on and let him go on deck.  Anna joined us shortly there after and the kids enjoyed surfing the big swells for an hour or so.

Good night,

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn

Midwatch 12-1-13

We ran downwind through varying conditions last night with the big blue, genoa, trisail      combo.  Our track looks like a pigs tail.  The wind finally rotated around to the East       before dawn.  Kim used her last energy to help me get big blue down in 20 kts in the dark.   She has been something less than a puddle ever since.  We crossed the genoa and have been    running south on a reach all day.  We left the day-glo orange trysail up but it didn't help  us get noticed by the crew of the big tanker I had to call and wake up.  There was a period  with a lot of ships traffic on the approach to Gibraltar.  We are now in the middle of       no-where.  I believe Africa is our closest point of refuge if you want to call it that.  We  ran our batteries down in the calmer winds yesterday.  We just furled the genoa and are now  motoring with the trisail for stability while we replace some amps for the auto-pilot.       Dinner was on Dad...Ramen Noodles.  Finn ate his and Anna's and asked for more...he is       unbelievable...the ocean conditions that flatten everyone else have no effect on him.  Maybe he is some kind of super hero?  Anna must be starting to feel better because she is singing. Again...Kim is miserable.

On a better note:  Last night we survived without the heater... first night since sometime inSeptember.  We are still wearing hats and mittens while on watch though.

The sunrises and sunsets have been beautiful but the nights are damned long.

Our current position is:

17:30 UTC (about sunset)

34 Degrees 58.498 N
10 Degrees 27.872 W

Speed 5.5 kts
Course 180 Degrees

We are running south towards an arbitrary waypoint (32N 11W).  We are trying to stay well to the East of a low pressure system to our west and we are trying to set ourselves up for a    better angle for some southerlies that we expect in a couple of days.  They get southerlies  down here about once a year.  Lucky us!  It will be like trying to sail for Grandma and      Grandpa's beach with a west wind.

Goodnight!

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn

Midwatch 11-30-13

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone.

We made one 70 mile step down the Portuguese coast on Thanksgiving day and pulled into a     fancy marina on the outskirts of Bilboa for the evening.  We had planned for a leisurely sailbut it turned into another marathon with 25-29 kt winds for most of the way.  Everything heldtogether well but Kim wasn't feeling the best.  She has decided her body can't tolerate the  medicine so she has taken to the bucket.

The kids did fine.

We had a big meal of local bacon and eggs and Kim made a pumpkin pie of all things.  We ate  our fill and slept hard.  The wind picked up and we had rain squalls all night but woke to   clear skies.  It is still quit cold here so the heater has gotten lots of use.

We checked the weather and decided to head for the Canaries again.  We left about 3:30 PM    local time on Friday.

At 4:00 UTC (local for us) we are at:

37 Degrees 07.238 N
10 Degrees 11.349 W

Sailing 5.8 kts on a course of 183 Degrees True
The wind is about 16 kts out of the North

We have been experimenting with sail combinations for running with the wind.  We are         currently running under a "poled out genoa" to port and big blue to starboard.  We also have our storm trysail up in hopes it will dampen some roll. The mainsail remains strapped to the boom.  So far this combination is working pretty well.

Kim is still not feeling the best but the sea is relatively calm and I think she is          improving. The kids are back to their movie marathon.

Last night we had to traverse a major shipping lane.  30 miles or so of ship super highway.  We had an average of 10 ships in a 12 mile radius for the entire crossing.  Of-course it was in the dark...it always is.  I had a real treat when dolphins set up shop next to us and Annajoined me on deck.  We watched the ships and dolphins and shooting stars for two hours.  It  was one of my best watches ever until she went to bed.

We are now safely in the deep and haven't seen any ships for hours.  We have done some       chores.  I transferred diesel from jugs into the wing tank to lighten the deck load.  We downloaded another weather report.  We have to decide if we have the nerve to carry our present  sail plan into the night or play it conservative and slow...haven't decided yet.

A sailboat from Norway left the slip next to us and headed for the Canaries about 3 or 4     hours before we left so we aren't the only ones out here.  They had 4 crew members...we were very jealous.

All for now.

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn